A Man's Guide to Cooking on Valentine's Day

How's that Valentine's Day dinner reservation working out for you? If you're currently scrambling to get a prime table for two at some place that doesn't involve ordering at the counter, I'd like to encourage you to relax, put the phone down, and reconsider your strategy. Forget restaurants. Cook for her this Valentine's Day.

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Women love a great cook. We also love a bad cook who's at least willing to try. The vision of a man confidently deglazing a sautee pan is enough to melt our flower-grubbing, jewelry-coveting hearts. Cooking dinner is a gesture that's just as appropriate and endearing on your third date as in your 30th year of marriage, and it has the added bonus of allowing you, the man, to sidestep the awkward matter of how much to spend at a restaurant. Cooking is more intimate, it's almost always more memorable, and it allows you to engage in adults-only conversation without the inclusion of 15 other adults by your side. Don't think that your final dish needs to be masterful. Just edible. Unlike that ill-advised necklace you bought her last year, cooking really is all about the thought.

Here's a basic guide to getting it right tomorrow night.

• Buy a few hors d'oeuvres. It will take at least an hour to get dinner on the table, so you should have something decent for her to snack on while you cook. Try a couple of nice cheeses (this lady's favorites: Explorateur triple crème, Ewephoria sheep milk Gouda, Jasper Hill Cabot Clothbound Cheddar), olives, or oysters if you can open them without making yourself bleed. Pair your selections with a bottle of bubbly: Gruet and Schramsberg are both solid choices.

• For your main course, you want something sufficiently impressive but not so hard that you're liable to screw it up. We recommend Tom Colicchio's salt-roasted whole fish, which is conveniently demoed here. For the less adventurous, a well-executed roast chicken won't let you down. You can serve either of these with a green salad and good, crusty bread, or get slightly more involved and aim for risotto or sautéed vegetables. Pair dinner with a white wine — try a Sancerre or Sauvignon Blanc.

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• Always plan a dessert. If you can make it from scratch, all the better. I recommend Gourmet's now-classic flourless chocolate cake, which is guaranteed to melt her last, feeble resistances. If you don't have the required cake pan, Elizabeth David's chocolate mousse has a similar effect, no special equipment required. If baking's not in the cards, go for ice cream with fresh berries and a plate of chocolate truffles from any of the better chocolatiers (Godiva, Vosges, or Neuhaus, for example).

What to avoid?

• Lobster. Yes, it's decadent, but lobster is also messy to prepare, and it's best for everyone if the night doesn't begin with your lady watching you kill something.

• Menus that are too involved. With Valentine's falling on a weeknight, dinner should be something that you can cook in an hour and a half from start to finish. Any bonus points accrued for extra effort will have evaporated once you're sitting down to eat at midnight.